EOP Students Reflect on SOMOS Conference in Puerto Rico

From left to right, UAlbany EOP students Omahri Sturdivant and Ashlye Reyes, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul, and HVCC EOP students Astrid Fuentes-Dimas and Stefan Warner pose for a photograph in Puerto Rico.
From left to right: HVCC EOP student Stefan Warner, UAlbany EOP student Omahri Sturdivant, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, HVCC EOP student Astrid Fuentes-Dimas and UAlbany EOP student Ashlye Reyes pose for a photograph in Puerto Rico.
UAlbany EOP student Ashlye Reyes shakes the hand of New York City Mayor-Elect Eric Adams as HVCC EOP students Stefan Warner and Astrid Fuentes-Dimas look on.

Four years after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the Caribbean Island is still reeling. So the Hispanic advocacy group SOMOS chose the theme “SOMOS La Recuperación — We are the recovery,” for its annual Puerto Rico conference the first week of November.

This year, for the first time, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras invited four Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) college students to participate. Two are UAlbany students: Ashlye Reyes is a sophomore with a double major in political science and Latin American, Caribbean and U.S. Latino Studies. Omahri Sturdivant is a graduate student in the Department of Educational Policy and Leadership. Joining them were two undergraduate EOP students from Hudson Valley Community College.

Reyes and Sturdivant said a highlight of the trip was the opportunity to perform community service. After checking into their San Juan hotel rooms on a Wednesday, the students spent Thursday morning at a former school that had been largely destroyed by the hurricane. There was no funding to rebuild the school, but it is now being rebuilt as a community center. “It was hard work,” Reyes said. They pulled out debris and weeds and sprayed the area with weedkiller. Walls were being painted.

“People were talking about the issue of power,” Sturdivant said, referring to utilities. “It might be a long time before they get power back to that [building], and that’s something you need.” In addition to becoming a community center, the former school may become a site for affordable housing, he said, adding, “That area is a very poor community.”

Reyes recalled passing a graffiti-covered hotel with shattered windows and houses that had lost their roofs and foundations.

At the conference, Reyes said, much of the conversation was about rebuilding schools and community centers. Following Hurricane Maria, other hurricanes and the worst series of earthquakes in more than a century, people have been leaving the island. “We talked about the effects of people leaving their homes in Puerto Rico just to come here (to the U.S. mainland) for jobs or schooling,” Reyes said. Funding is being sought to make staying in Puerto Rico a better option.

From left to right: HVCC EOP student Stefan Warner, UAlbany EOP student Omahri Sturdivant, HVCC EOP student Astrid Fuentes-Dimas and UAlbany EOP student Ashlye Reyes pose for a photograph in front of a mural of the Puerto Rican flag.

Sturdivant, who has had a successful career as a triple jumper on UAlbany’s track team, said he was a little uncomfortable attending this event at first. “I’ve never been in a conference with people with power,” he said. But he said he was happy he took the chance, since it got easier “once you talk to everyone, get in there and start networking.”

Most interesting, he said, was a panel on de-stigmatizing mental health, an issue he feels needs to be addressed. Another issue discussed was the experience of nurses during the pandemic. “A lot of the nurses were going through things they shouldn’t have to,” he said. “They had not signed up to see what they saw – dead bodies every day.”

Reyes said she heard New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul talk about women coming up in politics and being taken seriously, and how the number of women at the conference gave her hope for the future.

Other highlights for Reyes were relaxing on the beach after a strenuous morning of community service — “the sand was beautiful,” she said — and seeing the historic buildings of Old San Juan. “I definitely want to go back,” she said. “I want to discover the island more. A plus is you don’t need a passport.”

“I would recommend anyone do this,” Sturdivant said. Every year SOMOS has one conference in Puerto Rico and another in Albany.

This article was written by John Mason, an English & Writing Professor for UAlbany EOP.